Chandler City Council approves development agreement with Allstate

PHOENIX — Chandler City Council voted 6-1 Thursday night to approve a development agreement between the city and Allstate Insurance Company.

If Allstate chooses to develop a new operations center in Chandler, the city would reimburse the company about $5.4 million for hiring, training, plan review, permitting and other expenses.

Councilman Sam Huang, the only dissenting vote, said he had only heard about the project last week and felt that the taxpayer money could be better used elsewhere.

The other council members celebrated the opportunity to work with the Fortune 500 company.

The corporate campus, which would be located near Loops 101 and 202, could create as many as 2,500 jobs over five years.

The insurance company has leased 217,000 square feet at two sites in the East Valley city.

Chandler was in the running for the center along with two other unnamed Valley cities and Boise, Idaho, according to a city memo.

The memo also said the city would pay Allstate $600 for each new position paying $65,000 or more a year, as long as the new hire is among the first group of 2,500.

Discussions between the city and the company began in early 2017, according to the public document.

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